Cold WSM 18

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Royal Oak

Royal Oak is scrap wood and it burns out fast. A more lump made from a more dense hardwood would likely have given you a better result.
I used to get excellent results from the same product. It's become horrible since. I also don't like spending $45 for a bag of charcoal. Briquettes are always available.
 
I used to get excellent results from the same product. It's become horrible since. I also don't like spending $45 for a bag of charcoal. Briquettes are always available.

Wow. $45.00 for a bag of charcoal? What kind of charcoal is that?
 
You know what a $20 (usually $40) 20 pound bag of charcoal would cost to ship to Canada? Probably $80.
 
You know what a $20 (usually $40) 20 pound bag of charcoal would cost to ship to Canada? Probably $80.
Might be worth it to see if you can find it locally. Shop around. This time of year, nobody is BBQing, and places like Home Depot are looking to move it.
 
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I always look for available charcoal. It's either quite the drive away, it's crazy expensive, or there is none. Home Depot doesn't have this. Remember, I'm in Canada.
 
Beerich, i've been using Embers (heard its RO scrap oak briquettes) and it does the same thing.

What i've found helps is to always use new charcoal at the bottom of the basket.

What i do is take the left over charcoal and dump it into a chimney starter, dump out all the ashes out of your smoker into the trash... pour new charcoal (fill the ring half full or more) into the the basket so that there are air gaps between the briquettes for better airflow.

Now with the chimney, add more charcoal so its 3/4 to 7/8 full.. light it up, let it get really blazing so the top charcoals start getting ashy.. you want a strong fire with no smoke and flames coming out of the top..

now dump it into your basket right in the middle, it will look like a mountain. use a stick to pull some off the peaks off to the side but still have a hump so the fire is concentrated in the center..

now make sure all bottom vents are open 100%, make sure the lid is always open 100%.

Put your smoker back together.. watch the temps climb.. when it comes near 200, maybe like 180 or so.. reduce the bottom vents to 1/3 for 225 or slightly more for higher temps... wait 15 mins and live with whatever temps you get (dont mess with it too much)
 
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I have never had any problems with KBB. I have 4 Webers that burn charcoal, and KBB has always worked like a champ. I can get 40 lbs. for around $20 here in TN.
 
Beerich, i've been using Embers (heard its RO scrap oak briquettes) and it does the same thing.

What i've found helps is to always use new charcoal at the bottom of the basket.

What i do is take the left over charcoal and dump it into a chimney starter, dump out all the ashes out of your smoker into the trash... pour new charcoal (fill the ring half full or more) into the the basket so that there are air gaps between the briquettes for better airflow.

Now with the chimney, add more charcoal so its 3/4 to 7/8 full.. light it up, let it get really blazing so the top charcoals start getting ashy.. you want a strong fire with no smoke and flames coming out of the top..

now dump it into your basket right in the middle, it will look like a mountain. use a stick to pull some off the peaks off to the side but still have a hump so the fire is concentrated in the center..

now make sure all bottom vents are open 100%, make sure the lid is always open 100%.

Put your smoker back together.. watch the temps climb.. when it comes near 200, maybe like 180 or so.. reduce the bottom vents to 1/3 for 225 or slightly more for higher temps... wait 15 mins and live with whatever temps you get (dont mess with it too much)
I've been doing that for ~14 years. RO has just plummeted over the last couple of years and my recent cleaning of my thermometer and a briquettes brought the temps back up. I then tried the RO charcoal, and it was horrible. My WSM historically had 2 vents open on the bottom, top one fully open. Worked like clockwork. Then it started not reaching temps.

Also, fire isn't what you want from a chimney. You want those coals red hot, which means flameless.
 
I have never had any problems with KBB. I have 4 Webers that burn charcoal, and KBB has always worked like a champ. I can get 40 lbs. for around $20 here in TN.
Here, 30 pounds, $45.
 

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I've been doing that for ~14 years. RO has just plummeted over the last couple of years and my recent cleaning of my thermometer and a briquettes brought the temps back up. I then tried the RO charcoal, and it was horrible. My WSM historically had 2 vents open on the bottom, top one fully open. Worked like clockwork. Then it started not reaching temps.

Also, fire isn't what you want from a chimney. You want those coals red hot, which means flameless.

Oh man sounds like the current RO is really bad then. One thing about KBB is that the burn is really consistent. When i used KBB i could give it a small amount of lit charcoal on top of used charcoal and it would start burning really good like i kind of turned it off then back on since the last cook.

When i switched to using hardwood briquettes "RO scraps" i noticed it was very finicky. If i tried to relight the fire from the last cook, it would struggle to come up to temp and even if i opened all the vents at the bottom, it would struggle to rise. It was really weird. It has to start out strong and maintain the strength, if it drops in temp, it's hard to bring it up for some reason.
 
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I've hung onto the fact that lump charcoal burns hotter than briquettes. But, as you said, consistency and reliability is built into the briquette shape. I'm completely good with that. Historically, I'd light my charcoal back then, without a chimney start. I'm talking propane minimal torch inside the front open vent. Boom, it was reliable. The venting of a WSM is notorious for predictable burning. For me, two open bottom vents, and a full open top. This unit is known for this performance, after you seasoned the unit.

Thanks for the notes, letthemeatrest letthemeatrest . Sounds like I landed on the culprit and found a solution all in one swoop.
 
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Ya winter really hides this stuff, so there can sometimes be a chase. Then you find yourself with ribs and little charcoal. Not good.
 
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